Everyone has different ideas about when to wean-the current guidelines state 6months or when your baby shows signs they are ready-such as sitting up or good head control. Personally I think it is up to each parent to decide when their baby is ready-all babies are so different so it goes without saying that weaning will happen at different stages for everyone too. I am lucky in that my health visitor is open minded and not judging me for weaning earlier than the 6 month period as I have heard of others who are set against mummies weaning before that.
Aoibhín has really good head control and although is not yet sitting up independently for any long periods of time she is getting there-plus her eyes never leave us when we are eating and I was starting to feel like Shrek and she was puss in boots with her big eyes staring at my food. So we took the plunge and started to wean just before five months (about the 21 week mark-why is the weeks and months age so confusing)...anyway we started her off with some baby rice- although not the most nutritious meal we wanted to ease her in gently and as much as I love the sound of baby led weaning-I just don't want to start off that way. Baby rice is quick and was the perfect way for us to make the transition. WE just make it up with her own milk and she loves it! She gets so exited when she sees the little pot coming and she just grabs for the spoon!. I generally give her the rice once a day-varying different times.
We then added a little bit of Ellas kitchen flavoured porridge in the mornings and again she loves this too! I love her little face when she tastes it and am so excited for all the new flavours she will be introduced too. We have also given her the Farleys rusk (the reduced sugar ones) I don't see any harm in allowing her these as it gets her used to the texture plus it massages her little gums!.
I intend to puree all my own foods and have bought the Tommee Tippee blender/steamer to make it easier-It looks super easy and efficient but I intend to do a review on it once I have used it. I also bought those little storage pots-a mixture of Tommee Tippee ones, Asda little angels and Tesco ones-they are so handy and perfect for popping in the fridge as it means you can have individual pots rather than having to defrost an big portion at once.
I was waiting on a big food shop today so now that it has arrived I intend to puree, puree, steam , steam-exciting day ahead!. I am starting her now on carrots, parsnips, broccoli, sweet potatoe pears, bananas, apple and cinnamon and whatever else was in my food shop!. Initially I will let her taste each food alone-that way I can gage her reaction to the food but also see if she has any allergies or sensitivities to certain foods. I will incorporate some baby led weaning too but probably once we have established a good basis of purees-so basically any finger foods-a lot of supervision and mummy sitting watching like a hawk I am sure too!.
I am so excited to watch her try new foods and see what her likes and dislikes are! Also any new mummies sign up for the Ellas Kitchen website and you can get a weaning chart and stickers to document babys weaning journey!.
I'll be back with updated posts once we are well into our weaing journey to see how we have got on!
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